Obamacare Hill subsidy case to go to court

A long-running fight involving Obamacare coverage for Hill staff and lawmakers is getting its day in court this summer.

Sen. Ron Johnson’s lawsuit against the Obama administration policy that allows the federal government to pay for a portion of lawmakers’ and staffers’ health insurance policies in the Obamacare exchanges will go before a Wisconsin district court judge on July 7.

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The Wisconsin Republican is hoping to overturn the Obama administration’s decision to allow the federal government to pay for a portion of its employees’ health insurance. Most other federal workers — as well as many Americans who work in the private sector — have part of their health insurance paid by their employer. But the health law required most Hill staff and all lawmakers to go into the Obamacare exchanges, instead of staying in the regular federal employees health program.

Johnson, whose lawsuit is backed by several other Republicans, argues that Obamacare does not allow the government to contribute to the exchange health plans. The Office of Personnel Management determined that the government can keep subsidizing these workers, but Johnson and some other Republicans disagreed.

“The OPM rule is unlawful and defeats the will and intent of Congress as expressed in the ACA and the statute under which OPM administers the FEHBP,” Johnson, as well as one of his staffers, wrote in a January complaint.

In court filings, the Obama administration argues that Johnson doesn’t have the legal right to bring the lawsuit. Justice Department attorneys said that Johnson and the staffer are not being hurt by the policy and that the Constitution bars the courts from “ruling on abstract legal or political debates.”

The case will be heard by Judge William C. Griesbach in Green Bay, Wis.